Another possible explanation is that Graves desired emotional oblivion at that point, having suffered through a lot of postmortal emotional troubles. Clearly, the mechanism of consciousness transfer can't have been the stumbling block, because Graves could rig up a transfer system with Data basically at the drop of a hat. And it sounds as if Graves desired to transfer his whole emotional baggage even originally, when his intended destination was a computer of his own devising. At least he spoke highly of his emotions, and as if he were taking it all with him.
If Graves wanted, he should have been able to interface with the E-D computer similarly to how he interfaced with Data; the former is never depicted as a more limited computer than the latter.
I don't have access to 'The Schizoid Man' at the moment, but did we actually see the system Graves was looking to transfer to? If we did, was it a bulky, mainframe-esque deal, or something more compact? If it was compact, I really have to pause to wonder why he didn't try to create his own android to transfer to, since, if he had the brain, the body should have been cake (as we seem to both agree upon)... and it's obvious he found value in having a body, otherwise he wouldn't have tried to hijack Data.
I do wonder just how immediately familiar Graves might have been with Data's systems... Given how much he and Soong presumably spent together, it might not have taken much to reconfigure his work to interface with Data's brain, as I don't see any reason to believe his brain uses anything other than standard interfaces to connect to other computers, but I don't have any way of knowing that other than I don't see why Soong would make Data's connectors and interfaces 'proprietary' if computer interfacing would be one of his basic functions. So it might make sense that Graves could quickly re-rig his equipment without a lot of time, just due to his familiarity with Soong's engineering paradigms, which Graves himself probably had considerable insight into.
On the subject of Graves, one wonders just what became of the information that he eventually dissolved himself into. Surely it had to have had some technological value, since he still seemed to be regarded as a great scientist.
Yet more questions... they keep cropping up like weeds...
Actually, the dialogue leaves open the possibility that Bashir was merely using positronic prosthetics on the vital mechanisms of the brain - midbrain rather than frontal lobes. No consciousness was being transferred to the prosthetics, nor was this ever the intention.
Not all human experience resides in the cerebral cortex, though... the midbrain is where a great deal of our more basic emotional drives and responses come from... in fact, interestingly, many of the emotional responses and stimuli that Data sought in his quest are functions that, in humans, usually generates from the midbrain (fear, fight or flight responses, rage, sexual desire, etc.), not the cerebral cortex.
Kira says Bashir replaced half of Bareil's brain. Bashir argues that if he replaces the other half, the "spark of life" will be gone. That would make sense if Bashir replaced the "simple mechanics" - cerebellum, corpus callosium, hypothalamus - and did nothing with the cerebral cortex. If he already messed with 50% of the cerebral cortex and still managed to keep Bareil's personality more or less intact, he should not be stating absolutely that the second identical operation will spell doom. He should be hopeful that if it goes as well as the first one, most of Bareil's personality will still be there!
Of course, the 'half-brain' figure could also be referring to the left-right brain fallacy, wherein the left brain controls 'logical' functions like computation, memory storage, etc. with the right brain doing abstract thought, linguistics, creativity, etc. That model doesn't hold much water today (it's a bit more complex than that), but it still has a large prescense in popular science, like the whole '90% of your brain' fallacy that people still seem to believe is true... and I believe Trek has used itself (The Nth Degree, maybe?). In any case, they could be referring to the idea of using positronics to replace the left half of the cerebral cortex, being more computational in nature, and thus, easier to emulate, but positronics not being up to the task of handling right brain intuitive functions....
That's just an alternative explanation based on nothing more than hunches, so take that as you will.
All sorts of cybernetic implants are still part and parcel of the TNG era Trek, even after the Borg put an evil twist on those. So avoidance of cyberpunkish visions isn't all that active; DS9 later on dabbles in direct neural interfaces on several episodes, such as "A Simple Investigation" and "Honor Among Thieves" (although, as the titles suggest, in the context of somewhat criminal use).
"Extreme Measures" is an even better example, I think. While cybernetics are perhaps fairly common, they're typically used for replacement (Nog's leg, Picard's heart, etc.) and not necessarily enhancement. Geordi's VISOR was probably the best example of and 'enhancement' used in this regard... possibly McCoy's body circa TNG, but it's not really made clear if he's running on biology or cybernetics at that point (knowing him, probably biology).
Even so, these developments didn't really extend to the human brain, with the only species that dabbled in that sort of thing usually ended up following the Borg template (the Bynars are the only species that comes to mind that did that sort of thing without being evil, but it still led them to act antagonistically in the episode featuring them).
Quite. But he did create Tainer after Data, and we have no proof he stopped there. Granted he never went public or officially redeemed his reputation - but at the rate he was going, I wouldn't wonder a bit if he built a couple more perfect humanoids and then finally made himself immortal by creating a duplicate Soong or ten.
Which only raises the question of to what possible end would he have done this? Creating a self-sustaining android population? Nefarious purposes? Just the sheer, unadulterated hell of it? And of course, the question of what happened to them... ESPECIALLY if he maintained his tradmark narcisissm with his later creations... Soong himself may not have been a celebrity, but I'm fairly certain Data is in his own right... People would have noticed another one of him running around (and before anyone mentions Lore, I might remind you that he didn't really spend any time around civilization. Floating in space, taking a Pakled ship and joining up with the Borg doesn't really take him anywhere near the Federation).
We must accept, though, that the other forms of AI encountered have been servants, to much greater degree even than Starfleet officer Data. A software-based AI like Vic Fontaine is pretty flexible, as is Moriarty - but both came to be as the result of a desire to create entertainment with specific parameters. Data was allowed to be more of a blank slate.
This is most certainly true, however, as Fontaine, Moriarty, and the Doctor show, even subservient AI can expand beyond it's original parameters, even without the sort of philosophical imperatives that seemed to drive Data. Of course, that might be an inevitable side effect of being modeled on human behavior patterns... To make a convincing enough simulation of humanity, it may be impossible to not imbue said creations with some sort of genuine humanity, however one wishes to define the term beyond simple biology.
Then again, they never did that with Picard. Duplicates of him would have been quite useful, let alone improved versions. Perhaps the same mentality that still enforces the centuries-old ban on genetic improvement is reinforcing the resistance to superior machines, or superior anything? Perhaps the straw man argument used to topple Commander Maddox in the subject episode was indeed taken seriously - perhaps duplicates, triplicates and v2.0s really worry the UFP to no end?
I doubt that the Federation is run by total Luddites in this regard. In any case, their technology is certainly not static, and in a constant state of improvement, so they're not afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to increasing their capabilities. And if they were that afraid of the possibility of rogue AI's and computers turning against their masters, they'd have burned every holodeck in the galaxy with fire by now, since it seems that it really IS out to kill them at every opportunity.
You mean cloning Picard? Or making an army of transporter duplicates or something? That does seem quite silly, doesn't it? But in any case, I'm sure the people involved would react with extreme disgust with that possiblity. After all, didn't Riker and a bunch of others overreact and murder a bunch of their clones in cold blood after finding out the genetic material was stolen from them in one episodes... They're obviously tetchy about such things.
Data would be a different matter... by his very nature, he is a machine. Those standards and feelings don't really apply to him, especially as I don't think he'd see a duplicate of himself as an affront to his identity, as most human characters seem to whenever it happens to them. If there were a non-destructive means for Starfleet to learn ALL of his secrets to allow mass production, I don't think Data would have a problem with that, as long as those creations would be treated with the dignity afforded to sentient beings and not soulless automata belonging to Starfleet.
Of course, that could be the real reason Starfleet isn't interested... They're in a legal corner. They can't keep a tight rein on manufactured androids without creating another civil rights fiasco. But it doesn't make sense for them to expend resources making androids that might choose a life other than Starfleet, or worse, choose to work for other civilizations, enemies, or worse, go bad and join the Borg or something. And since Starfleet keeps a fairly tight lid on research regarding Data's engineering, they're likely the only ones who know enough to accomplish the feat regardless, aside from the Daystrom institute, who likely have the own reasons for not doing the same... or have they?
Some older points:
We have to consider that the Tripoli probably had missions of more serious nature scheduled. They find a seeming former colony of unknown size wiped out... Fine. Quarantine the planet and don't send further colonies there, because apparently things don't work well there.
Also note that when the E-D pays a revisit a dozen years later, LaForge comments on the death of the local vegetation as if it were news to him. Apparently, the Tripoli crew didn't notice this phenomenon - which, instead of painting them as complete idiots, could suggest that the phenomenon only develops gradually after a Crystalline Entity strike. So the Tripoli would only have found minor surface remains of the colony, and then Data on his altar. No telling what type of habitation had been there previously. Kirk would never have stopped to seriously investigate something like that.
It was my understanding the the Entity basically sucked up every organic thing in it's path, meaning the vegetation, etc. would have vanished the same time as the colonists, but I may be misremembering the episodes with the Entity.
In any case, my problem with this isn't that they didn't investigate, but that they didn't rule out that the problem wasn't just a local, planetary issue that just means the place isn't suitable to inhabit and not some Negative Space Wedgie that might be prowling the area and COULD pose a threat to Federation space. They don't have to solve the mystery, but they could have at least determined if the cause was local or external in nature, in case it's something they should be on the look out for on other planets that might actually matter. That's the only part I consider negligent on the
Tripoli's part.
Notice that they weren't specifically sent to investigate. They were paying a visit because their schedule allowed for this. Probably Omicron Theta lay far off the beaten path (by choice of the isolationist inhabitants), another reason for the Tripoli not to loiter. Starfleet can't be hunting down all of the galaxy's bad guys or nasty diseases or space storms - it should concentrate on those that actually threaten the UFP, rather than distant alien or dissident worlds.
Again, they don't necessarily have to track down or exact retribution or anything, but it would behoove them to at least figure out if it's something that could happen closer to home or just an isolated accident or planetary quirk. If it's bad guys, it'd be good for Starfleet to be aware of them for the future, to avoid things like the Ferengi sneaking around under their noses for centuries before revealing themselves to the Federation openly. If it's a space storm, anomaly, phenomena, etc. it would be nice to track it in case it came close to UFP territory. These things aren't necessarily the colonists' problem. They could be
everyones problem if not properly monitored... Besides, isn't that the sort of thing frontier ships are
supposed to be keeping tabs on, to know what's coming and what's out there, even if it doesn't immediately effect them?
It seems that too many anomolies and problems of the week the Enterprise gets itself into could really have been avoided with a better tracking system and investigatory branch of Starfleet devoted to collating this kind of information instead of having starships stumble into them all the time.
When did Kirk investigate things like this? Only when the spoor was fresh, or the UFP was under immediate threat. Or, in the rare case of "Obsession", when he had a personal fish to fry.
Ok, I can grant that one. Of course, was there any indication of how long after the Entity's attack the
Tripoli showed up? What drew it there, anyway? A distress call? Funky sensor glitch, just because?
This rather goes against the idea of holotainment. Surely holonovels must be easily mass-produceable, and at least the ones Janeway played with were clever and interactive, featuring independently thinking characters like DaVinci.
Sure, Riker was surprised that Minuet had a personality - so this could be an aspect only introduced in the 2360s. But there's never really been a hint that holocharacters would be scanned from real people, except in a couple of cases where such scanning was considered extremely bad form ("Hollow Pursuits", "Meridian")
!
Trek is somewhat inconsistent on this, I think, at times making holodeck characters seem very dull, literal stock characters, or occasionally imbuing them with near-human insight and intellect... this seems to be a mere function of plot or comedy, depending on what's required. It is interesting to note, however, that 'Felix' the guy Bashir got the Fontaine program from, seems on one hand a genius (making the Fontaine program fully self-aware and capable of external interfacing with station systems) and a sadist (putting jack-in-the-box subroutines to screw with a holoprogram you designed to be sentient).
Agreed that Soong probably borrowed a lot from Graves, and that Data in turn borrowed from them. But Data only understood a fraction of it - he was no Soong, and hence whatever he was unable to do should not be used as proof that Soong would have been equally powerless.
Keep in mind, too that Data adapted Graves technique (or what he understood of it) to do something it wasn't designed for anyway, copying FROM a positronic matrix to another matrix instead of from a human one... not sure what difference it would have made, but I'm sure it fudged a few parameters.
There's really no way of telling how skilled a cyberneticist Data is/could have been, since he seemed to give up so easily after Lal (who was far better and more sophisticated in her few days of life than any of Soong's early creations, and even his later ones). If she'd not cacade failed, it would have been no contest to say he'd exceeded his father admirably, and in some ways, to do this on his first try, I'd say he did. So I think it's a bit of a mistake to say Data wasn't as skilled as Soong, just not as experienced or practiced...
You know, I wonder if that might have been Soong's ultimate purpose with Data, to follow in his footsteps and succeed him in the android making business. Had he kept at it, I don't see much that would have stopped him... but I imagine, after Lal, his ethical subroutines wouldn't allow him to play God like that again, so more's the pity.
And the ENT arch on Arik Soong confirms the appearance issue. So the question does remain, why wasn't Data's appearance considered proof for his origin or ancestry? And the possibility still exists that the connection was seen and dismissed as too obvious - a mere prank by one of Soong's professional enemies, perhaps.
An enemy that doesn't bother to show himself? Not much of a prank if no one takes credit for it...
It is possible that certain people knew Data was Soong's brainchild and had a positronic brain - but that these very same people had no interest in shouting this fact from rooftops. The less proof that Often Wrong Soong got it right this once, the better... Data himself might have been too childish to understand what was being talked around him during his early years, and by the time he enrolled in the Academy he had adopted an identity that did not include memories of Soong, nor of memories of speculation on his ancestry.
This is much more believable, I think... perhaps these are the 'soulless minions of orthodoxy' I keep hearing so much about...
It is a bit odd, though, that Data never seemed interested in his own personal history (until it showed up wearing his exact same face... but evil), as a matter of academic interest, if nothing else, given his voracious curiosity on other matters human, you'd think speculating on his own origins would be one of the first things he'd attempt.
